Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Animalia Stupendium. My name is Argomandanes, wizard to
Speaker 2: the Queen of the Four crowns, Long may she reign,
Speaker 2: inventor of the reversible wan sleeve and tireless creature chronicler. However,
Speaker 2: mere monsters hold no mystery for me these days. Indus
Speaker 2: worms are inconsistent, fire drakes are well. Frankly, I've just
Speaker 2: had enough of them, so instead I turn my attention
Speaker 2: once more to the strange fauna of a land called Earth.
Speaker 2: Travel with me, gentle reader, as we consider the glorious
Speaker 2: glass frog come name glass frog.
Speaker 3: Scientific classification some one hundred and forty seven species of
Speaker 3: the family central Linidae, frequency and range Central and South America.
Speaker 3: Size small, generally two inches or five centimeters in length,
Speaker 3: diet various small arthropods and smaller frogs. Treasure hoard, egg
Speaker 3: clutches laid on leaves or branches overhanging small bodies of water.
Speaker 3: Challenge rating three.
Speaker 2: Through my travels in magical realms, I even countered no
Speaker 2: shortage of invisible creatures. Various spirits, demons, and fay that
Speaker 2: lurk in the shadows become the shadows and creep upon
Speaker 2: unsuspecting adventures. So too, I have met many a rogue
Speaker 2: who survived encounters due to their ability to blend into
Speaker 2: their environment and remain unseen. And yet never have I
Speaker 2: seen a wondrous treasure, not even in a dragon's splendid horde,
Speaker 2: as precious as the glass frog. Most of these are
Speaker 2: arboreal denizens of the cloud forests, boast a semi translucent skin,
Speaker 2: thus their name, and through their glass like skin one
Speaker 2: may glimpse their very organs and the coursing of red
Speaker 2: blood through their veins. Indeed, did I not know better,
Speaker 2: I might assume that some careless apprentice had dripped the
Speaker 2: very ink of animation upon the pages of an anatomy textbook.
Speaker 2: But I assure you these frogs are quite real. And
Speaker 2: since glass frogs are products of evolution and not accidental wizardry,
Speaker 2: you might ponder why they are required translucent skin and
Speaker 2: visible organs, because surely it is a careless adventure who
Speaker 2: strolls into an enemy's stronghold with invisible flesh but visible viscera.
Speaker 2: It might shock and confuse your adversaries in the short term,
Speaker 2: but they'll certainly know where you are, they'll wise up,
Speaker 2: and you might not like where they aim their arrows.
Speaker 2: I am somewhat reminded of the crystal flesh ghuls of
Speaker 2: Nue in this as well, but that is beside the point. Indeed,
Speaker 2: scientists long pondered the nature and effectiveness of the glass
Speaker 2: frog's camouflage. There are two amazing factors we must consider here.
Speaker 2: First of all, while their central bodies reveal their internal organs,
Speaker 2: their legs are generally a great deal more translucent, as
Speaker 2: are the edges of their bodies. Thus, when the fog
Speaker 2: bunches itself up on a leaf, the edges of its
Speaker 2: balk blend into its surroundings, be it dark or light.
Speaker 2: This is called edge diffusion, the softening of line separation
Speaker 2: between the creature and its background. Think of it as
Speaker 2: a blurring of the visible boundary between the individual and
Speaker 2: the surroundings. Stealth check, and there's more. Quite recently, scientists
Speaker 2: discovered something very exciting about the glass frog's blood. Yes,
Speaker 2: when the frog is active, the visible veins of coursing
Speaker 2: red certainly mark the frog for potential sighted predators. But
Speaker 2: when the frog is asleep, most of its red blood
Speaker 2: cells pool within the creature's liver, swelling the organ by
Speaker 2: some forty percent and amassing an estimated eighty nine percent
Speaker 2: of the creature's red blood cells a virtual liver of holding.
Speaker 2: As a result, the frog's overall translucency increases by as
Speaker 2: much as half or even more success It's an extreme adaptation,
Speaker 2: and scientists ponder how they might learn from it in
Speaker 2: the treatment and prevention of blood clots. For the frogs
Speaker 2: carry out this daily feet without suffering clots of their own.
Speaker 2: Further study may lead to the development of new ante coagulants.
Speaker 2: Glass frog coloration and translucency varies from species to species,
Speaker 2: as do some of their other adaptations. At least one
Speaker 2: species produces bright red tadpoles that bury themselves in mud
Speaker 2: and leaf litter before completing their metamorphosis. I could go
Speaker 2: on and on about these delicate creatures, but for now
Speaker 2: I must retire my wizards quill and allow my familiars
Speaker 2: some respite. But I shall return with even more wonders
Speaker 2: of the natural world.
Speaker 4: Hi, this is Robert Lamb. Thanks once more to the
Speaker 4: wizard Augomandanese for joining us in this episode, and thanks
Speaker 4: to my son Sebastian for suggesting the topic of glass frogs,
Speaker 4: which he read about in the twenty twenty two Kingfisher
Speaker 4: Animal Encyclopedia, which also served as a source for this episode.
Speaker 4: Other sources include Imperfect Transparency and Camouflage in glass Frogs
Speaker 4: by Ryan at All, published in the Journal Biological Sciences
Speaker 4: twenty twenty and glass Frogs Concealed blood in their liver
Speaker 4: to maintain Transparency by Taboada at All, published in the
Speaker 4: Journal Science twenty twenty two. Thanks as always to the
Speaker 4: excellent JJ Possway for producing this episode, and if you
Speaker 4: wish to contact Argomandanese with recommendations for future episodes, you
Speaker 4: can send an email to contact at Stuffdlow your Mind
Speaker 4: dot com.
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.